The Praise and Worship Bar Bands

Ever been to hear live bands (like at a bar) and heard a praise and worship band? It feels a little weird, doesn't it? You're there... having a good time, possibly drinking an adult beverage. Meanwhile, the band on the stage is trying to get intimate with the Holy God.

It's akward, isn't it?

You're trying to treat their music like entertainment... like a TV or a radio playing that you can engage and ignore at will. They're trying to draw you into a special place where you can experience God -- something you're not supposed to treat like a TV. You're talking about girls or football... they're waging war on sin and calling you to holiness.

But what do you do if you are one of those bands? Where do you play so that you can get an audience for your music?

And what do you do if you want to hear those bands in a worship-py setting?

Let me be clear: I love to hear praise and worship music done in a modern rock style. It inspires me. It releases me and helps me to get into the presence of God. I'm not putting down anyone. I want to hear praise and worship music. The problem is that there's no 'system' for these bands to develop in. The bar/club scene is a good 'system' for bands out to entertain. Working your way up that system is a decent way to find good acts. But there's not any good system (that I know of) for developing and discovering praise and worship bands.

The obvious answers are to network it through churches. Having bands play on Sunday morning or at youth gatherings. The problem there is that this is a very closed forum... and few churches are willing to open up like this. Often, the only way to do this is if you are also the worship paster for the congregation or youth group. Not an easy gig to get... and not appropriate for a band who focuses on praise and worship music.

Another answer is to focus on youth rallies and events. I know of several bands that focus on this sort of thing and they do well (search myspace for The Curt Dubose Band and Sean Michael Currier).

So... what about praise and worship venues? Places where you can go and hear praise and worship music every night? ...I doubt if you could make money doing that. And that's a tough draw, too. Instead of a "have fun, hear bands" sales pitch, the sales pitch becomes: "come, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and confess your sins that you may be forgiven." (Want fries with that?)

Perhaps Christian-themed clubs could do a "Praise and Worship" night. But that would suffer from the same 'marketing' issues.

Perhaps the way to do it is to create some sort of system on the Internet. Usually, when I want to listen to P&W music, I want to be alone... with headphones. So, perhaps there's a better way to push music through online methods. And this would work well, too, because people who dig P&W music aren't exactly drawn to the bar/club scene. Problems with this idea? The RIAA, MPAA, etc. wanting to prevent any music sharing whatsoever. This can be overcome by artists sharing music through a Creative Commons license scheme.

I think online might be the way to go.

Until it exists... I'll be discovering P&W bands in the bars and clubs. For example: check out The Red Airplanes. I saw them at The Door last night. They're making a really rich and intense brand of worship music.

What do you think?

Peace,
Gabriel

[Origionally posted on my Myspace on 2007-09-08]